Happy Y2K. Now what?

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies, including his latest, "The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians, and the End of the Age." Before launching WND as the first independent online news outlet in 1997, he served as editor in chief of major market dailies including the legendary Sacramento Union.

Now, with the prospect of technological breakdowns behind us, maybe
we can — and should — begin concentrating on some important issues
facing our country and our world in the 21st century.

No, we’re not completely out of the woods. Most of the analysts
predicted the ramifications of the millennium bug would be long-term
rather than short. There will undoubtedly be some economic fallout and
dislocation in the year ahead. But the worst fears and projections
proved to be just that — worst-case scenarios that never materialized.

There’s a danger in being smug and taking an “I told you so” attitude
about the bug. Americans are not as self-sufficient and self-reliant as
they ought to be. The “don’t worry, be happy” approach to preparedness
by many was not encouraging. There are real threats to our way of life
— there always are. And smart people — free people — should always
acknowledge that and be ready for them.

The biggest ongoing threat remains government’s preoccupation with
involving itself in every facet of our lives. This is not a healthy
trend. Yet, too many Americans seem hopelessly oblivious to it, or,
worse, reconciled to it.

It doesn’t have to be this way. It cannot be this way if America, a
beacon of hope around the world, is to remain free.

Maybe the best place to make our stand — those of us who care about
freedom — is on the newest frontier, the Internet.

In the coming months, the government power-grabbers will be putting
on a full-court press for taking control of that new frontier. If they
succeed with their imminent plans to tax the Internet, it may prove to
be the final frontier.

The power of the Internet and its promise for creating wealth and
transforming our material lives is truly unprecedented. Not since the
advent of the printing press, the telegraph, the telephone, radio and
television have we seen anything quite so revolutionary. And the
Internet is demonstrating the potential to rival all of the above in its
impact on society.

That is good. But it poses inherent dangers as well.

If government establishes control over such a powerful tool, the
Internet could become the most effective and powerful propaganda tool in
the history of the world.

We cannot allow that to happen.

The beauty of the Internet is its decentralization. Plans by
government at state and national levels to tax it are, at their root,
plans to compromise it, regulate it, destroy everything positive about
it.

This is a rallying cry to stop those plans in their tracks. We can do
it, people. Use the power of this unregulated, uncontrolled medium to
demonstrate your convictions.

WorldNetDaily.com Inc. is leading the charge in this campaign.

I am asking you — each and every person who reads this column — to
forward it to every friend and acquaintance who is capable of receiving
e-mail. Use your influence as free citizens to make your voice heard.
Spread the word about this ambitious crusade to stop all plans to tax
the Internet.

The first phase of this campaign is simple and easy. This company has
tried to make it as easy as possible to participate.

Get on talk shows and spread the word. Send the petition page to
everyone you know. There is no time to lose.

In March, the politicians in Washington will be ready to act.
Already, in state capitals throughout the country, laws are being
drafted that will cost you money — and, more importantly, your
God-given rights.

Why is this campaign so important? I believe it’s winnable. And, I
believe, that after winning this battle, we can use it to win back more
of our freedom — to destroy the myth that government has a right to
stick its nose in what should be the most private aspects of your life.
After all, is it really the government’s business what you buy and sell?
Is it really the government’s business how you earn a living? Is it
really the government’s business how much you earn?

Too many Americans have accepted government’s intrusion into our
private lives. Saying no to Net taxation can be a way to reframe the
debate about the proper role of limited government in a free society.

It can be a galvanizing issue. It should be. It must be.

If we let this opportunity slip through our fingers, we may never
have another one like it.